What does a bookkeeper do? 🔎
A bookkeeper, also sometimes called an accountant, is someone who is responsible for a company’s financial records. This may not sound exciting, but you will be amazed at how incredibly broad the range of duties of an accountant is.
You can hire him/her to ensure that the accounting, financial and tax side of your business stays neatly in order. Specifically, you may think of, for example:
- booking purchase invoices
- drawing up financial reports
- calculating your taxes
- preparing and filing vAT declarations or other tax declarations
- …
However, these tasks are starting to become less and less of an accountant’s core tasks as software plays an increasingly prominent role. Today, you mainly turn to an accountant to get specific tax advice.
Moreover, precisely because an accountant’s range of tasks can be so broad and diverse, many accounting firms specialise in certain areas or even specifically in customer types. Many accounting professionals are also focusing more and more on giving advice and want to be less and less occupied with rather administrative tasks.
At Dexxter, we are 100% behind this. We have created an application that makes it very easy for you as an entrepreneur to take on these administrative tasks yourself. Think of entering purchase invoices, creating financial reports and filing various tax declarations.
What is the difference between bookkeepers and accountants?
Be sure to view our article on the main differences between a bookkeeper and accountant!
What does a bookkeeper cost? 💶
On average, you will pay a bookkeeper between €50 and €125 per hour excl. VAT. That’s a decent price range, but highly dependent on your accountant’s range of tasks and what type of business you are.
A lot of accountants now also offer fixed subscription formulas for your bookkeeping. This way, you as an entrepreneur know in advance the monthly amount for which your accounts will be in order (with exceptions).
However, if you would like more insight into the prices of bookkeepers, we can certainly recommend our blog article on bookkeeping pricing.
How do the costs and activities of an accountant vary from statute to statute?
The cost of an accountant can vary depending on several factors: such as the type of accounting for which you need help (company or sole proprietors), whether you are a VAT subject or VAT exempted entrepreneur, the number of years of experience your accountant has, etc.
Would you like to know more about how your company form and vAT type affects the price of your accountant? Find out in our article: what does a bookkeeper cost.
Are you a self-employed student, self-employed in secondary occupation or self-employed in main occupation with a sole proprietor? Use our simulator to discover how you can easily take charge of your bookkeeping yourself and what savings are stated in return.
The rise of the digital accountant
We now know exactly what an accountant does, yet we can now make an additional division in the accounting landscape.
Namely, we have a ‘classic’ bookkeeper and a ‘digital’ bookkeeper. Surely there are some major differences between these two groups that we would like to explain.
The classic bookkeeper will invest less of his time in digitising and automating an accounting system. Whereas a digital accountant will strongly focus on digitising and automating accounts and even more, he will try to pass this mindset on to the entrepreneur.
In this article about the digital bookkeeper, discover in detail how concepts such as ‘automation’ and ‘digitalisation’ can have an impact on your entrepreneurial story. With accounting software Dexxter, you are already in a good place if you want to make a strong commitment to automation and digitisation.
Being your own bookkeeper 🧠
Let’s start at the beginning: you are perfectly allowed to do your own bookkeeping. Whatever form of business you have: you are always legally allowed to do your own bookkeeping.
By using smart tools like Dexxter, you are perfectly able to take charge of your sole proprietor’s bookkeeping yourself, from A to Z. We have dedicated a full article to why we are convinced that you, as a sole proprietor, can take charge of your bookkeeping yourself!
Comparison between average costs via bookkeeper and bookkeeping yourself in Dexxter ⚖️
Before this, we talked about the average cost from a bookkeeper.
At Dexxter, we deliberately select one price package that includes all our functionalities. This way, you as a (starting) entrepreneur don’t have to make estimates of exactly what you need from Dexxter and how much it will cost.
One price with Dexxter, all our functionalities included, everything you need as an entrepreneur. The only choice you have to make is whether you want to pay for Dexxter per month at €20 excl. VAT per month or go straight for an annual subscription where you only pay €180 excl. VAT.
Would you like a broader comparison between outsourcing your accounts to an accountant or taking charge of your accounts yourself with Dexxter? Find out via our time & money – simulator.
How to choose the right bookkeeper?
Digitalisation means you have to consider less and less the geographical distance between you and your bookkeeper, if of course you choose a digital bookkeeper.
After all, delivering documents to a digital bookkeeper is 100% digital, which already saves a lot of physical travel.
You can also take advantage of a free, no-obligation initial introductory meeting with your potential accountant. Such a free initial meeting is required by the professional federation of accountants and bookkeepers.
Would you like more tips and tricks on what to look out for during such an introductory meeting and how best to find a bookkeeper?
